trouble
by MuslimBarbie
Summary: The Flash may be the fastest man alive, but that doesn't mean the Canary can't give him the slip.


If there's one thing about Sara that's stayed constant her entire life it's probably that she has a knack for getting into trouble. It happened in high school when she sometimes found herself in the back seat of a car with another girl's boyfriend. It happened when she walked onto the Queen's Gambit and ended up in the hands of Anthony Ivo. It happened when Nyssa found her and took her back to the League to recreate her. And it _definitely_ happened when she went back to Starling and ended up in life threatening situations every week. So it really should be no surprise that trouble finds her the night she walks from the Central City train station to her mother's apartment.

Fortunately for her, Sara has a lot of practice dealing with trouble. With controlling it.

"You really don't want to do this," she tells the five thugs. She can already tell they're barely packing – four with knives and one nervous one with a gun in the small of his back

"We just wanna play, sweetcheeks," the biggest goon smirks, flashing his knife at her.

"Yeah," a second chimes from behind her. "Don't ya wanna play with us?"

"Fine," she says, dropping her bag. "Let's play."

She grabs the man behind her before he can get his knife, and flips him over her, knocking him and the biggest thug over. She dodges the other two, immediately aiming for the nervous one with the gun, and chops him on the back of his neck, knocking him unconscious before he can grab his weapon. A fourth guy tries to charge at her from behind, but he's far too loud to actually sneak up on her and she lets him get just close enough for her to sweep-kick his legs out from beneath him. He gets two letters into an unpleasant curse before he slams face first into the concrete. She simply punches the last guy in the nose, breaking it. The first goon – the biggest one – tries to grab the gun from the unconscious one's body, but she grabs his arms and twists them behind his back.

"I thought you wanted to play, _sweetcheeks_," she hisses into his ear.

Sara knocks him unconscious before he has the chance to call her a bitch. When she looks up, two of the thugs have run off, leaving the last three passed out on the concrete. She digs the gun out from the nervous one's back. Her eyes glance at the alley nearby.

"I'm know I'm not exactly from around here, but I never took the amazing Flash as the kind of hero to sit on the sidelines."

He steps out of the shadows with a goofy grin. "Seemed like you had it under control. Besides," he laughs, "I was kind of afraid you'd knock me out too."

Even in that ridiculous costume she can tell he's exactly as Felicity described him – tall, lanky, and a bit boyish. He's the complete opposite of Oliver Queen and the Arrow. He doesn't even seem determined to figure out who she is and how she managed to take down five armed thugs. Curious? Sure. Impressed? Definitely. But not determined. Then again, from what she's heard, it takes a super-powered criminal to get this guy's attention. And, as far as he can see, she's just a girl who knows how to take care of herself.

"Good instincts." She unloads the gun and tosses it to him – he can clean up the mess.

"Have a good night!" He calls as he awkwardly fumbles with the gun, obviously not quite sure what to do with it.

_Definitely the opposite of the Arrow_, she thinks as she grabs her abandoned bag. "You too." Sara pauses for a second and a playful smirk tugs at her lips. "Barry."

She practically hears his eyes widen and his jaw drop. "How did you–" He doesn't even try to fake it. He clearly still has a lot to learn.

"Like you said – all about the control."

There's a gust of wind and a red blur, and he's suddenly in front of her. "Hold it."

He grabs her wrist, the one half way buried in her jacket pocket. He pulls her hand out to find a canary bomb right in front of his face, which is rather unfortunate for him. Speed may be his thing, but that doesn't mean he's immune to sound. The second the sonic device rings, he drops her hand and covers his ears. By the time he realizes she's dropped the sonic, the bomb has already gone off. The explosion and smoke give her just enough coverage to fly away.

The Flash may be the fastest man alive, but that doesn't mean the Canary can't give him the slip.

Still, Sara knows this won't be the last time she sees him. She has a feeling Barry Allen has just as much of a knack for getting into trouble as her.

* * *

**Note: **I took a couple of liberties with Sara because I assumed, now that she doesn't have a crazy and horrible life, her sass would come out a bit more. I know Barry and Dinah almost had a thing in the comics, so I was curious to see how it would play out if Sara met Barry. I might write a sequel to this. We'll see.


End file.
